Visa Zero Liability

Visa's Zero Liability policy means 100% protection for you. Visa's enhanced policy guarantees maximum protection against fraud. You now have complete liability protection for all of your card transactions that take place on the Visa system. Should someone steal your card number while you're shopping, online or off, you pay nothing for their fraudulent activity. If you notice fraudulent activity on your card, promptly contact your financial institution to report it. It is important to continually monitor your monthly statement to identify any unauthorized transactions.**

Visa's Zero Liability policy took effect April 4, 2000, and is a great improvement on the previous policy. The former policy required that you report fraudulent activity within two business days of discovery. After this two-day period, you could be held responsible for up to $50 of the unauthorized charges. With the new Zero Liability policy, you're no longer required to report fraudulent activity within two days and you're not responsible for any fraudulent transactions made over the Visa network.

The only transactions not covered under the Zero Liability policy are commercial card, ATM, and non-Visa-branded PIN transactions.

For transactions on other networks, the liability decision is left to the financial institution that issued your card. The Issuer has the option of extending the same protections afforded by Visa's Zero Liability policy.

Get quick provisional credit for fraud losses.

Visa's cardholder protection policy requires all financial institutions issuing Visa products to extend provisional credit for losses from unauthorized card use within five business days of notification of the loss. However, many major financial institutions affiliated with Visa will issue provisional credit even earlier—within 24 to 48 hours after the loss is reported.

Shop safely with Visa.

Visa takes online security very seriously so that you can shop safely on the Internet. Visa has invested millions of dollars in building a secure payment system. Visa works with law enforcement and technology companies to stay one step ahead of criminals.

As a result of these efforts, fraud as a percentage of our total volume has actually

*Covers U.S.-issued cards only. Visa's Zero Liability policy does not apply to commercial card or ATM transactions, or to PIN transactions not processed by Visa. See your Cardholder Agreement for more details.

**Cardholders should always regularly check their monthly statements for transaction accuracy. Financial institutions may impose greater liability on the cardholder if the financial institution reasonably determines that the unauthorized transaction was caused by the gross negligence or fraudulent action of the cardholder — which may include your delay for an unreasonable time in reporting unauthorized transactions.